A/N: I don't own any part of the Twilight universe, but you already knew that.
You guys are too awesome for words. We picked up several more readers with the last chapter, so to all you newbies…welcome. To those of you, who have been here from the start, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Have fun with this one and let me know what you think.
Playlist:
Going Under-Evanescence
It's a must to listen to this song at the end of the chapter. No other way to get the full effect of the show.
The title of the chapter should tell you everything you need to know. Enjoy.
Chapter 13-EverClear Revealed
EPOV
I could not fucking move. It should have registered with me when Jasper dropped me in the back seat of my own car just how far into lock down my body was. But it wasn't until Alice slid in next to me and had to literally shove my legs into a bent position that it occurred to me.
"Alice…What…How….?" I couldn't even form a coherent sentence.
"I think I need to show you something. Sit still and listen, ok. Don't interrupt."
She turned her body to face me and pushed my legs back so that I was facing her. She reached her hands out and placed them on the sides of my head. She pulled me forward slightly and met me in the center of the seat, so that we were forehead to forehead.
"Just listen. Don't pull away."
I closed my eyes and tuned into the scene Alice began replaying for me.
"Club soda please."
"Child, what are you doing wearing vintage Valentino here for God sakes?"
"You know Valentino?"
"Honey I breast fed on a diet of Valentino. And by the way, that Chanel purse isn't supposed to be available until next season. So you, my sweet girl, are about to become my new best friend."
Alice beamed at the round man with the loud shirt and the gray flat top.
"I'm Chip. And you are fabulous. How did a diva such as yourself wind up here among the cretins?"
"My brother wanted to see the band." She shrugged her shoulders, clearly indicating this was not her idea.
"Tool isn't really my thing, either. But the call of duty must be heralded."
"I'm Alice. It's nice to meet you, Chip."
He reached out to shake her hand before she could react. His hand closed around hers and his wide eyes looked directly into her golden ones.
"You're Tanya's Alice aren't you?'
"Tanya?" her voice was shaky as she feigned innocence.
"Tanya Denali. You're the Alice she talks about with the fashion addiction and the uncanny ability to predict next season's trends."
"Jesus, you know Tanya?"
"And Kate and Irina too. Although between you and me, I can do without Kate's snarky attitude. And don't even get me started on Irina. Someone really should have checked to make sure the girl wasn't going to be permanently on the rag before they changed her. Never in my life me a more volatile person."
Alice actually snorted when she laughed. Chip was still holding Alice's hand.
"So how do you know them?"
"I met Tanya about 15 years ago at fashion week in Paris. Loved the confidence. The rest is a friendship forged in Versace and Prada."
"So you've known her a while then?"
"Yeah, but I don't see her often any more."
"So you know…."
"What she is? Yes. And by extension what you are."
"Oh. I see."
"Alice, can I ask you a blunt question?"
"Why stop now?"
"Is your brother here with you?"
"I have two brothers."
"Yes, but only one of them is Edward. So again, I ask is your brother here?"
"Yes, he is. How in the hell do you know about Edward?"
"Well, for one, I have known Tanya for a while and she talks a great deal about the one that got away. Doesn't happen to her very often. But most of what I know about him is because I work with Bella."
The look on my sister's face must have been the same one that was on my face the moment I caught sight of her. She was utterly stunned.
"Bella? Oh sweet Jesus. You know Bella?"
"Honey, I am mother hen to Bella."
"Dear God. Chip, how is she?"
"Look for yourself. She's currently about three seconds away from falling over the railing of the balcony."
Alice snapped her head up toward the balcony just as Bella flipped her hair back over her shoulders and raised her arms above her head. The flush of her skin was utterly magnificent.
"Holy shit. She's…"
"Stunning? Beautiful? Thank you, that's my work."
"I tried forever to get her to dress herself up. How did you do it?"
"Not without a lot of blood, sweat and tears. But she finally relinquished control. Fabulous results don't you think?"
"Abso-fucking-lutely. How is she?"
My sister's eyes were sad and I could see the pain in her question.
"She's good. Better now than she used to be. Still has a terrible time sleeping. About once a week, I give her hot tea laced with Ambien to try and help her sleep more than three hours at a time. But she's good. That's why I wanted to know if your brother is here."
"Why doesn't she sleep?"
"Because she dreams every night. About him. About him leaving her. Sometimes multiple times a night. And the nightmares cause panic attacks. She wakes us screaming and hyperventilating."
"Bella has nightmares and panic attacks?"
"Yeah. I was hoping after 5 years, they would subside. But no such luck yet."
"Him too." Her voice was so low, I was actually curious as to how he had managed to hear her above the music.
"He doesn't sleep. How can he have nightmares?"
"No, not nightmares. He has panic attacks. Every time he sees something or thinks about something to do with her. He never leaves the house, except to feed, and even that has to be forced on him. All he does is listen to his Ipod and think about her."
"We should really get these 2 together. Mutual panic attacks and emotional breakdowns. Sounds fun."
"I think Edward would sell his soul for a chance to see Bella."
"You know, she has been mess all day because she thought she smelled him. Three separate times, she has sworn that he had been near. I guess she was right."
"You are staying at the Waverly, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"Edward has a paperweight that she touched in the lobby. He has held it like it was the Holy Grail all day long."
"Fuck, what a mess. What are the chances of these two running into each other here of all places. Jesus, one of the biggest nights of her career and..."
Chip's head whipped around to see the band finishing the fourth song. His eyes did not look happy.
"Alice, honey, I've got to go. I have to be somewhere in just a little while. Can we maybe meet tomorrow?"
"Sure, I'm in room 2204. Just call me tomorrow."
He turned toward the room and then wheeled around to face Alice one more time.
"Why are you guys in Atlanta, just out of curiosity."
"We drug Edward out of the house to hear EverClear play. He loves them. He has probably listened to their album a thousand times in the last two years."
"You're going to see EverClear? Tonight? At Blood Lust?"
"Yeah. We actually have reserved seats for all 3 shows. Are you going?"
"Yes, I'll be there."
"Will Bella be there?"
"Yeah, she will."
I opened my eyes as Alice released my head from her hands. I could not believe this conversation. This little pudgy gray headed man knew Bella. He worked with her. And according to him, he took care of her.
I would have to buy the man an island or something.
Alice smiled at me.
"It will be ok Edward. Let me meet with Chip in the morning and we can figure all this out. She's here and she's ok. That will have to be enough for tonight."
"I might get to see her at the show tonight."
"You might. But Edward, I really think you should wait until I have a chance to talk to Chip before you do anything rash."
"Like what?"
"Like hurl yourself out of our box at the sight of Bella. Move slowly. After five years, another twelve hours is not going to kill you."
"It isn't five years until the day after tomorrow."
"I know honey. I know. Just try to relax a little while longer. Let it be enough that you are in the same room as Bella and that you two are listening to the same music. You guys always did have that in common."
"Translation, hold your shit together or I will nail your ass to the seat," Jasper barked out. His tone and interruption broke the spell that Alice and I were both under.
"Dude, I got to say. Bella is looking all kinds of hot," Emmett laughed out.
I immediately began to visualize ways of removing his head from his body.
"Bro, chill out. He's just trying to lighten the mood."
"Fuck off Jasper."
"Fuck you. You're back there all nose to nose with my wife, and Emmett can't make a comment about Bella's leather clad ass?"
He was right. Damn it.
Alice was filling in them in on the details of the conversation, minus a few details regarding clothes.
"Ok, ok. Yeah Em, she does look good. Jesus, what the fuck was that outfit? Did she intentionally try to torture the human males in the building or is she still that clueless as to how gorgeous she is?"
"Just think, if you can pick her out in the crowd, you can stare at her all night." Emmett was doing nothing to hide his amusement at the chaos that was currently my brain.
"Why do you think I am still agreeing to go?"
Twenty minutes later, we were standing in the box to the right of the stage. The room seemed much smaller now that it was filled with people. The sound was like a tidal wave washing over us. I could do absolutely nothing except scan the crowd for Bella.
Maybe the show was why she'd dressed that way. She just dressed up the way the rest of the crowd did, so that she would blend in. That had to be it. Surely to God, that wasn't how she always looked.
I pictured her in Alice's vision eating breakfast. No, that was my Bella. Ratty tee shirt and no make up. Tonight's Bella was decked out to go out with friends.
Friends. Who in the hell were all those guys? And why was the one touching her? Granted, it seemed to be more of a balancing gesture than anything else, but I did not like the thought of anyone touching her.
Stop asshole. You left her. You have no right to be upset about anyone touching her. She gave herself to you and you broke her heart.
Mercifully, the lights in the room dimmed, indicating that the show was about to start. I focused my attention toward the stage to see the silhouettes of the band members making their way onto the stage. The haze from a fog machine and the pitch blackness of the stage distorted their faces, even to my vision. The drummer and a female went directly toward their instruments, but three others made their way toward the center of the stage. The guy to the right was the bass player, if the length of the neck of his guitar was any indication. The guy to the left must be the lead guitar player. And in the center and slightly in front of the two guys was the lead singer. She looked tiny standing between the two men, even with the heels she was wearing. She reached up and touched her neck for just a moment and then raised the hand holding the microphone to her lips.
"Now I will tell you what I've done for you."
"50,000 tears I've cried."
Her voice was strong and powerful, even through the distortion. She continued to sing the first verse, cloaked in darkness and fog. The lights above the stage began to slowly come up as she neared the intro to the chorus. There was a faint click as she turned the distortion box on her microphone off.
"I died again."
The full force of the lights flooded the stage and the three figures in the center began walking quickly to their respective parts of the stage. The woman made a direct line toward the front of the stage as she sang the first line of the chorus.
Everything in my world stopped at that moment. There was no movement. There was no thought. There was no sound. There was only my tunnel vision.
A bright corridor of light burned a path directly from my eyes to the woman on the stage, holding the microphone and singing out in a powerful cadence. The same woman whose lyrics had held me captive in my memories for the last two years.
EverClear was revealed to the shrieking crowd.
Bella.
Bella was standing on the stage before 3000 people.
Bella was commanding the attention of every single person in the room.
Bella was EverClear.
"I'm going under." Her voice shattered my control as she sang the chorus of the song.
And for the second time in as many hours, my knees gave out from under me.
Chapter Notes: So? What did we think? You guys know what to do to inspire me to get the next chapter ready for tomorrow. Show me some love bbs.